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Moscow: Russia's next president, Dmitry Medvedev, vowed yesterday to uphold his mentor Vladimir Putin's policies after an easy win in an election criticised by Western observers as not fully democratic.
Medvedev signalled Russia under his presidency would not abandon its tough positions on issues such as Kosovo and Washington's plans for a missile shield in Eastern Europe that have put Moscow at odds with the West.
"We should pursue independent foreign policies, the ones we had in the past eight years, with the main goal of protecting our national interests on all fronts by all possible means, but of course sticking to ... legal rules," Medvedev said.
With 99.45 per cent of the votes counted, Medvedev had 70.23 per cent, the Central Election Commission said. Because of a higher turnout, more Russians chose him than picked Putin in the 2004 presidential election - 52 million votes to 49.6 million.
Andreas Gross, head of a Western monitoring group, said the election's outcome broadly reflected the will of the people but fell short on a number of issues.
"We believe there was not freedom in these elections," he told reporters. "The results of the presidential election ... are a reflection of the will of an electorate whose democratic potential was unfortunately not tapped," he said.
Medvedev, 42, will be the youngest Russian leader since Tsar Nicholas II when he is sworn in on May 7. He has asked former KGB spy Putin to be his prime minister.
Putin, 55, was prevented by term limits from running for re-election.
"I think [my presidency] will be a direct continuation," said Medvedev, referring to Putin's eight years in office - a period marked by a concentration of power in the Kremlin and a willingness to stand up to the West on foreign policy.
Putin and Medvedev say they will abide by the constitution, which gives the president control of foreign policy and "power ministries" such as defence and the security services, while the prime minister looks after the economy and social services.
But it is still not clear which of them will really be in charge of the vast, nuclear-armed country, and analysts question if their power-sharing arrangement can last long in a nation accustomed to having a single, strong leader.
Medvedev, a former law professor who has spent most of his working life in Putin's shadow, said he would not let his powerful prime minister encroach on his authority.
"The president's main office is in the Kremlin. The prime minister's permanent location is the White House [government headquarters]," he said.
Era of 'Putvedev'
Europe's press sceptical
Europe's press poured scorn yesterday on Russia's carefully choreographed presidential election but differed on whether Vladimir Putin and his successor Dmitry Medvedev could work in tandem.
"Expect change only in name as 'Putvedev' takes the reins," read the headline from Jonathan Steele in Britain's Guardian.
"Continuity is the name of the game," he continued. "You can call Sunday's change 'From Putin to Putin'. You can dub the new man 'Putvedev'."
"Who won?" asked Finland's Helsingin Sanomat.
"Vladimir Putin won," came its own sure-fire response. "Russians have chosen vice-prime minister Dmitry Medvedev as their new president because he is committed to following the line traced by Putin."
The popular French daily Le Parisien commented that "Putin and Medvedev had barely voted before they headed out to lunch together... as if to celebrate their victory, without waiting for the results, which were never in any doubt.'
Other papers pondered how this new relationship might play out.
"The Russians voted according to Vladimir Putin's wishes," commented Czech daily the Lidove Noviny.
- AFP
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